Brady pick of the US bunch

New expansion plans for handball could usher in a lucrative new era for Irish players. By Michael Foley

LAST Thursday morning Paul Brady woke up in Anchorage, Alaska. It was early, and his body was crying for mercy. Two weeks on the US handball circuit was closing in on three. He’d get up at 11.30 and prepare himself for the first round of the tournament beginning that afternoon. Did he want to be there? Hell, no. He was thousands of miles from home. His life felt even further away from where it was a week before.

So much had changed so suddenly. The previous Sunday in Seattle, he lined up in the final of the most valuable tournament in the history of handball, the Ultimate Handball Showdown, against David Chapman, one of the greatest players the game has produced. The winner would walk away with $50,000. The money would give Brady the financial security to continue to live the life of a full-time handball player. But Sunday was